What matters
Did you see Brain Rudman’s article in the Herald yesterday? The quote says it all: It just reminds you what an absurd debate […]
Eddie
Teh New Zelaand Herlad
Have you noticed how many spelling mistakes there are in the Herald these days? James at Editing the Herald has: I’ve had quite […]
Nats could lose, but can Labour win?
If you had told me a year ago that, just a third of a way through its term, this government would have lost […]
PHARMAC on the altar of free trade
Yesterday John Key indicated that he might be willing to dismantle PHARMAC if it gets us a better free trade deal with the […]
Climate Change cowardice hurting NZ’s image abroad
One of the UK’s most influential newspapers, The Guardian, carries a stinging attack under the title New Zealand was a friend to Middle […]
Poll shows Kiwis prefer MMP
NZPA reports on a new poll from UMR which shows Kiwis don’t want to dump MMP for a less proportional electoral system. The […]
Politicisation of ACC continues
Frogblog has another example of the continuing politicisation of the public service under National. I meant to post on this a while back, […]
Rules don’t apply to Key’s ministers
Another day, another minister breaking the rules. On the Dental Artistry website, Rodney Hide has written: ‘Thanks for the fantastic job! I was […]
Yeah, nah, too far
We all use language sometimes that’s too stong and we regret. Hone Harawira apologised today over his choice of words in the “white […]
Half Key’s Cabinet at the trough
The Dompost reveals that more ministers have been using their MP’s privilege to work around the standard John Key claimed to have set […]
Hide repays, what about the others?
Earlier this year, John Key stated: “I’ve told [my ministers] if they want to take their partner, they can do it, but they pay for […]
‘Let’s wait & see’ – do-nothing PM
If you think that John Key gets a lot of soft coverage, John Armstrong explained why yesterday: Key’s soaring popularity has made him […]
McCarten on capitalism
Matt McCarten’s Herald column this week is a call for every working New Zealander to go and see Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love […]
Government MPs’ travel woes
Not content with living in a fantasy world, Rodney Hide had to spend taxpayer money to visit Disney World as well. OK, actually […]
Over-promise, under-deliver
If there’s been a motto of this government, it’s the one above. We’ve been promised the world – tax cuts, better public services, […]
Key “doesn’t do anything” – Hide
It took a few cocktails to loosen Bill English’s tongue when he thought he was among friends. Rodney Hide just needed his coco […]
The myth of objective journalism
IrishBill: It’s never an easy decision to pull another poster’s work but after some reflection I’ve decided this post constitutes an unwarranted personal […]
The slippery standards of Mr Key
Yesterday, John Key cleverly tried to reframe his ministers’ failure to obey his standards on use of perks: “You don’t want 120 Members […]
Brash’s mea culpa
Strange mea culpa from Don Brash on the foreshore and seabed in today’s Dom. He doesn’t go as far as to apologise for […]
Voters see Nats’ feet of clay
Amongst all the puffery from the right-wing commentators in the Herald today, a very interesting piece – interviews with ordinary people from New […]
Key’s piggies at the trough
A few months ago, John Key said of ministers taking their partners travelling on the taxpayer dollar: “I’ve told them if they want […]
Breakfast is on us
Check out the invite we got to ‘Plain English’. Incredible. I didn’t even know until watching the Campbell Live story that David Cunliffe and Roger […]
On Cameron Slater and mental illness
A few months ago, a couple of us worked out that Cameron Slater, following his little spin in the media where he gloated […]
$15 minimum wage, it’s only fair
The campaign for a $15 an hour minimum wage is gathering pace. Initially, Unite kind of set out on their own on this […]
Political marketing expert fooled by English ads
If you thought TVNZ’s promo ad for its Plain English series looked like an ad for the National Party you’re not alone. Seems […]
Bill’s latest rort
I hadn’t seen the Bill English ad until now. I guess I had kind of assumed it couldn’t be that bad – surely […]
Examples of rest break exploitation
Over at Kiwiblog, David Farrar is doing his usual apologetics for National by trying to spin its removal of guaranteed rest and meal […]
National wants to take a break – yours
You’ll have seen in the paper that National is going to legislate, most likely under urgency, to let employers deny workers the right […]
National’s polling hypocrisy
Having previously led the charge on the Labour polling story, John Key has gone very quiet on the issue now that a former […]
MMP strengthening our democracy
As the assorted rich, white old men behind Peter Shirtcliffe start their campaign to dump MMP, it’s worth remembering that the diversity we […]
Where’s Hone?
Heard an interesting piece of gossip last night. Word has it Hone Harawira’s gone awol from the Maori Party. Apparently he’s somewhere in […]
Roy makes hash of Breakfast-gate cover-up
In an interview on Morning Report today, ACT’s Heather Roy tries to defend her involvement in the Breakfast-gate scams. She says it’s all […]
Roy joins in Hide’s Breakfast-gate scam
Question Time and media reports have revealed more on Hide’s ministerial-speeches-for-party-donations scam (as you know, every political scandal needs a ‘-gate’. I like Breakfast-gate). Hon Annette […]
Hide falls foul of Cabinet Manual
The Cabinet Manual details the basic expectations of ministerial conduct. It is not law but it would be highly irregular for a minister to breach […]
More dodgy fundraising by ACT
The ever industrious No Right Turn has turned up more dodgy fundraising practices by ACT. Last month, three ACT MPs held what was […]
Hide flounders in effort to cover corruption
Rodney Hide was always going to go one of two ways to try to excuse his corrupt abuse of office. Remember the facts: […]